Wonderforest Nature Preschool and Cain Sloan Store To Open At Pacific Park
A new pre-school and home decor shop are coming to Brooklyn.
Greenland Forest City Partners, the developer responsible for creating the 22-acre mixed-use neighborhood known as Pacific Park, announced today that Wonderforest Nature Preschool had signed a 3,629-square-foot lease at 38 Sixth Avenue, while Cain Sloan, a home decor, jewelry and gift shop, had signed a 1,873-square-foot lease at 535 Carlton Avenue.
The preschool will be run by Brooklyn Nature Days, which offers nature immersion classes for children in Prospect Park, and will be the organization’s first brick-and-mortar site.
“In addition to our Brooklyn Nature Days’ forest school classes in Prospect Park, having a physical home through the creation of Wonderforest Nature Preschool will allow us to expand our operations, offer full day care to families, and give our students a place to reflect and expand upon on their adventures in nature,” Sarah Carlson, the school’s founder and director, said in a statement announcing the lease.
The physical retail space also represents an evolution for Cain Sloan, which is based in Brooklyn but mostly operates online, selling work from local artists and designers.
“After this pandemic we’re all feeling the need to fill our homes with things that matter and make a difference which is exactly what customers can do at Cain Sloan,” said Katherine Wells, Cain Sloan’s owner.
Other retailers at Pacific Park include the ceramics studio BKLYN CLAY, Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, Beer Street, and Ciao Gloria cafe. New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital has also opened a medical center at 38 Sixth Avenue.
To date, four residential buildings have been completed at the development: 550 Vanderbilt, a luxury condominium; 535 Carlton Avenue and 38 Sixth Avenue, which together offer about 600 below-market rate rental units; and 461 Dean Street, another rental building with the distinction of being the world’s tallest modular building.
Several other buildings are still under construction, including a 51-story rental apartment building at 18 6th Avenue and another 28-story residential building at 662 Pacific Street.
The controversial Pacific Park development has been in the works since at least 2003, when it was known as Atlantic Yards. Of the planned 17 buildings expected to eventually rise on the site, only five have been completed thus far, including the Barclays Center.
The city came under fire for making use of eminent domain to facilitate the project, and criticised over housing on offer not being sufficiently affordable—the developers are legally mandated to build at least 2,250 below-market rate units by 2025.